Dozens of Jewish settlers scuffled with Israeli soldiers sent to take down an unofficial outpost today just hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed a shop owner in northern Israel.
Settler leaders planned to make Mitzpe Yitzhar a showcase of their opposition to the peace "road map", which envisages the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
They were calling on settlers across the West Bank to flock to the site to block the evacuation.
Israel's first move against an inhabited outpost built without government approval - a key obligation charted by the road map - comes a day before US Secretary of State Colin Powell is due to arrive in the region.
Soldiers tried at first to drag away some of the 200 protesters who gathered at the site but the situation turned into a stalemate after the group sat down on a road to block army vehicles.
At least two youths clambered atop an armoured personnel carrier and soldiers wrestled them back to the ground. Other settlers roamed the site on horseback.
"At the moment, we're trying to calm people down and make them understand that this is a struggle for the Land of Israel, not, God forbid, a war between brothers. We are all brothers," settler-rabbi Elyakim Levanon said at the scene.
Earlier, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a grocery store in northern Israel, killing its owner.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in the farming community of Sdeh Trumot near the West Bank, only hours after Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas again failed to persuade militants to call a truce in their intifada.
But Mr Powell believes the beleaguered peace plan is still viable. Speaking to reporters on a visit to Bangladesh, he said he saw signs of progress between Israelis and Palestinians on a security agreement for northern Gaza.
He is due to hold talks in Israel and the West Bank with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Mr Abbas tomorrow.